When we see records being broken and unprecedented events such as this, the onus is on those who deny any connection to climate change to prove their case. Global warming has fundamentally altered the background conditions that give rise to all weather. In the strictest sense, all weather is now connected to climate change. Kevin Trenberth

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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Australia: tennis players dropping like bats

It is fucking hot in Melbourne. Temperatures soared to 108 degrees today, weather unfit for human existence, let alone playing world-class tennis. A short compilation of bad things to happen to tennis players so far at the first Grand Slam event of the year:

Frank Dancevic collapsed during the second set of his match, lying unconscious on the court for a full minute. Dancevic says he was hallucinating before he fainted, andthought he saw a certain cartoon Beagle: "I was dizzy from the middle of the first set and then I saw Snoopy and I thought, 'Wow Snoopy, that’s weird.'"

Peng Shuai vomited, then cramped up, and had to be helped off the court.

Yaroslava Shvedova had to be covered in ice towels between sets of her match.

Caroline Wozniacki placed her water bottle on the ground, and the bottom of it melted.

It's carnage, and organizers don't seem willing to do much about it. Officials have the authority to halt play and to close the roofs on the center and second courts, but have declined to do so. The only measures taken so far include giving women an extra 10-minute break, and reducing ball boy shifts from an hour to 45 minutes.

"I think it's inhumane, I don't think it's fair to anybody, to the players, to the fans, to the sport, when you see players pulling out of matches, passing out," Frank Dancevic said. "Having players with so many problems and complaining to the tournament that it's too hot to play, until somebody dies, they're just keep going on with it and putting matches on in this heat. I personally don't think it's fair and I know a lot of players don't think it's fair."